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Friday, June 25, 2010

This is the post in which I will profess my undying love, affection, and devotion for Lunch Punch.

It starts with a story. Settle in, if you will, maybe fetch a bowl of popcorn. ;-)

I started this bento lunch blog late last year but only began posting semi-daily in February. While the focus of this blog centers on one of my passions, waste-free, litter-less lunches, I do have other interests as well. One of which is spreading Autism Awareness, for one of my lovely children does happen to be autistic. :) As my little lunch blog picked up steam I felt more driven and compelled to somehow work a little autism awareness into my posts, April is Autism Awareness Month, and it was just around the corner! But I had a dilemma. How could I make autism relevant to my lunch blog? I was afraid of alienating readers. What was I to do?

And then one night I was perusing Amazon and I stumbled across Lunch Punch, and specifically, their puzzle shaped sandwich cutters of Match and Munch.

THIS was just what I needed to bridge lunch making to autism. Because everyone knows the puzzle piece is the recognized symbol for Autism, right? (Right?!)I eagerly bought my Lunch Punch "match and munch" set from Amazon and looked forward to the month of April to begin blogging about two of my favorite topics: lunches and autism. :)

I had decided ahead of time that if people were nice about my autism blabber that I would do a bento giveaway. ;-) And people were not only nice about the autism messages, people were leaving the sweetest, warmest comments. I was so touched, often tearing up when reading them (as I am again, right now, just thinking about it!)("hello, my name is Melissa and I'm a big sap!"). Somewhere in the back of my mind I had braced myself for snarky comments about autism...afterall, people don't come to see foodie pictures and expect to be lectured about developmental disorders. But those worries and fears were unfounded, what poured forth from all you wonderful commenters out there split my heart open and touched me more than you know.

It occurred to me that it only made sense that part of my giveaway should include a set of the Lunch Punch puzzle cutters. That made sense, right? After all, I was using them in every bento I made that whole month (even for Muffin Tin Monday!) At first I was just going to buy a set to include in my giveaway. But then I decided to be really brave, put on my big-girl pants, and email Lunch Punch to see if they would be interested in providing a set for the giveaway.

Note that I had been blogging semi-daily at that point for only nine weeks. I'm not a big-name blogger or well-known. Lunch Punch had really no reason to want to deal with me at all.

But the response that came from Kiersten at Lunch Punch was more than I could have hoped for. Not only was she happily sending a set of the puzzle shaped "Match & Munch" set, but also sending a set of their "Critter Cutters" animal set for the giveaway too! I was blown away by their generosity and kindness.

I am a fan of Lunch Punch on Facebook and a couple weeks ago I was thrilled to see Kiersten announce the upcoming release of two new sets!

"VrrrM!!" a transportation themed set and the soooooo adorable Sand*wishes, a princess fairy tale theme set!

Let me tell you, my imagination was going wild the moment I saw these. So many ideas for cute lunch themes! The thought of waiting another two months was positive torture.

But the thing about Kiersten is that she is so nice. And so intuitive. She must have known that it might just kill me to wait so long for them because I found both sets in my mailbox the very next day. (!!!!!!!!) :)

Both these sets are available for preorders at the Lunch Punch site. They will begin shipping in mid-August, in time for back-to-school! :)

You can find Lunch Punch on Facebook and you can follow on Twitter too @thelunchpunch, although the Twitter bit might not do you much good as Kiersten has never tweeted a peep! Such a shame too, because the Lunch Punch is an Australian based company and you know she'd tweet all sorts of cute Aussie-ish terms and phrases. I'm holding out hope that one morning I'll see a tweet from her greeting her followers with a "g'day mates!". Maybe some tidbits about how she just wrestled a croc away from the barbie would be cool too. ;-)

In the interest of full disclosure (hello, I don't think it could get any "fuller" than this long babbling post!), this is not a paid endorsement. Lunch Punch has sent me 3 sandwich cutter sets for my own personal use and sent two sets to the winner of the April giveaway. I was not asked to write about Lunch Punch. This novella was penned by yours truly on my own volition because I truly love this company, I love their products and I felt compelled to (over)share that love with all of you.

I love these! Too bad I don't think my 22 year old boyfriend who I pack lunch for cares much about his sandwiches being in cool shapes. Luckily I do have a 3 1/2 year old cousin that would LOVE the transportation set! Might have to get them for him. =)

These are just adorable!! My 4 year old daughter will just LOVE the sand*wishes set! Thank you for sharing these wonderful new finds!

On a side note I just want to say thank you for your blog. Over the past few months I've followed your blog and not only have I been inspired to create waste-free lunches, you've also inspired me to eat healthier and provide healthier food to my family (not just at lunch but our daily meals in general.) You may not know how you directly impact each of your readers but please know you have greatly impacted how I think of daily nutrition as well as keeping myself in eco-check when preparing my families meals and snacks. Now instead of pre-packaged lunches and handfuls of random packs of snacks I am able to use your creative, wonderful ideas to make waste-free, fun, organized lunches/snacks for my family at home or when we are on the go.

I have been battling with my 4 year old when it comes to veggies and wholesome foods but now that I am making them fun and easy you barely hear any begging or negotiating coming out of my mouth! LOL which for both is a win/win situation.

So enough of MY babbling but I really wanted to share how much you really do inspire. Please keep up the GREAT work and again THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR TIME AND EFFORT!

I'm all over the transportation set! And, it's great to hear about such a nice company - and be able to support them.

I completely agree with Shannah. Every time I make lunch now, I think about you and your site and how I can make lunch (and every meal) not only fun, but also healthy and waste-free. I found your blog right around the same time as Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution was on (I know you love him! :-)), and it was perfect timing. I think I was doing pretty well with making healthy lunches before, but your blog really challenges me to go further.

Plus, you seem like just a really nice person and a great mom! That's inspiration in itself!

I have several different kinds of sandwich cutters and the Lunch Punch ones are definitely my favorites. They are easy to use and make very clean, neat cuts...wash up quickly, and are so creative!! LOVE THEM!!!

You never have to worry about the autism babble with me. I think everyday should be autism awareness and eat healthier day! And of course, food can be fun day!!!

I have the puzzle set too ( I saw it here and immediately ordered it). My son has seen the puzzle piece on shirts and things we attend and he likes them. He has ASD and I asked him one day if he knew what Autism was. He said it's when you go to the zoo and walk (he's 5 and that is where our local autism walk is).

Oh, Mrs. Ed! What your son said made me smile so big. :) That sounds like something Owen would say. My oldest son once described it this way: "autism is like Owen's brain is working in a different language and he's trying to know our regular language and we are trying to understand his special language and we are all in the middle right now". I was awestruck by how right he was. I wrote down what he wrote right away, so I would never forget it. :)

Shannon, for some reason it is broken down as some cutters being better for large bread and others for medium bread - but I just use regular sized Nature's Own bread and all the Lunch Punches work just fine with it. :) Just buy which ever design you like and it will be fine. :)